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IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
AHMEDABAD, India — Two senior Hindu officials of India’s
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been summoned for
questioning over the massacre of Muslims in the western state of
Gujarat eight years ago.
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Modi (C) has long been
accused by human rights groups of turning a blind
eye to the anti-Muslim pogrom. (Reuters) |
"I have
been asked to appear before SIT (Special Investigating Team)
tomorrow," former BJP General Secretary Nalin Bhatt told the
Press Trust of India Friday, March 12.
Bhatt
will be quizzed about the killing of 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in
2002.
The
summoning comes one day after Gujarat’s chief minister Narendra
Modi was summoned for questioning over the killings.
"We
have called the Gujarat chief minister" for questioning on March
21, SIT chief R.K. Raghavan told Agence France Presse (AFP).
The
orders follow one by the Supreme Court to investigators last
year to probe a complaint filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of
ex-Congress party MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed on February 28,
2002.
Jafri
was hacked to death and burnt by Hindu extremists who stormed
the Gulbarg Society, a residential complex housing Muslim
families in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's largest city.
In
2002, at least 2000 were hacked or burned to death by Hindu mobs
in Gujarat after 59 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire.
The
fire was first blamed on Muslims but a later inquiry concluded
it was accidental.
Modi, a
prominent BJP member who is often seen as a future prime
minister of India, has long been accused by human rights groups
of turning a blind eye to the anti-Muslim pogrom.
Welcome
The
police questioning drew showering praise from families of the
Gujarat victims.
"I
don't care what happens afterwards but it's good that Modi has
been served summons," Zakia Jafri said.
"I have
had sleepless nights since the incident. Now let him (Modi) also
have some sleepless nights."
Jafri's
son, Tanveer, said he hoped his mother's complaint against Modi
"will lead to formal charges being filed."
Lawyers
and activists, who have campaigned for justice for the Muslim
victims, also welcomed the summons.
"(This
is) a good first step towards justice,” Mukul Sinha, a lawyer
representing the victims, told CNN-IBN news channel.
Teesta
Setalvad, a rights activist supporting the Muslim victims,
hailed the move as a "long overdue" step that was "not enough."
"I hope
this leads to the charging Modi for conspiracy," she told CNN-IBN.
Previous investigations into the killings commissioned by the
Gujarat government absolved the state police and administration
of collusion or allowing the rioters a free rein.
But
last March, Gujarat's Women and Child Welfare Minister Maya
Kodnani was arrested on charges of leading a mob that killed
more than 100 people during the riots, making her the
highest-ranking state official to be detained.
Source:
http://www.islamonline.net
Date: 2010/04/13
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